COASTE | ARTISTS IN RESIDENCE
According to her mother, Sophia is a visionary artist. “She has an idea, she sees it, and she works it out. I have reams of crumpled papers that she goes through every day, until she nails her idea. And, she has a story behind each of her pieces, a narrative, and it’s based on cats and, recently, wolves. We literally have catalogs of her work.” When “Mia the Warrior Cat” went up for auction, both mom and daughter in attendance didn’t know what to expect. “When the bid went to $500,000, it was like there were sparkles in the room,” Joelene recalls. “People were all tearing, but their heads were up in tears of joy. It was one of those moments in a lifetime for Sophia.” For the record, all the proceeds went to charity — although Joelene and her girls were rewarded with a surprise Disney cruise, which “we will all really enjoy the time together.” According to Sophia, she was “surprised that art would mean that much to people. It has encouraged me to make more, because I have a million ideas going through my mind. My mom has always been my closest friend and it’s really fun to talk to her about my ideas.” Since her diagnosis, Joelene has pushed her daughter’s “imagination and boundaries. For instance, the other day I gave her the theme of umbrellas — and 15 minutes later, she came back to me with a drawing of a beautiful lotus, upside down, to look like an umbrella, along with a little cat on top of it, floating along. And she wrote: in my darkest times, I found this umbrella to float me to an oasis.” Joelene Barb is passionate about her purpose. “My life is about my children, making sure they fulfill their missions and are able to express themselves in an artful way.”
To which we’d say: mission accomplished.
To purchase Joelene Barb artwork, visit Esty.com online or Among the Flowers on Sanibel. Currently, Sophia’s work is not for purchase.
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